Registration trends show state Democratic party adding more voters than GOP

Primary voters have until 11:59 p.m. Saturday to get registered for next month’s Sept. 6th elections. Trends show more residents registering as Democrats over the past three years.

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Between August 2015 and now, the Delaware Democratic Party registered nearly 21,000 more voters while the state GOP signed up just 12,065.

First State election data shows Democrats have about 41 percent more registered voters, 327,384, compared with 193,207 for Republicans. Over 160,160 voters say they don’t belong to a party.

Jesse Chadderdon of the Delaware Democratic Party said the numbers show more Delawareans support their policies.

“In large part, we’ve done a pretty good job of representing the values of Delawareans," he said. "And that’s why, you know, we do have the governor’s office and we’ve got the House, the state House, and state Senate.”

Delaware State University Professor Sam Hoff said the situation in the First State for Republicans is not that dire. He teaches political science.

“The Democratic plurality in registration has been in existence for a long time and yet how do you explain the election of popular Republican governors," he said. "Certainly as we go back, Pete Dupont and Michael Castle and others.”

Emily Taylor, vice chair of the state Republican party, said they’re focused on making the case they have the more qualified candidates.

This week, we bring you another edition of the Midterm Matters podcast from the University of Delaware Center for Political Communication.

This podcast is part of the Center for Political Communications' upcoming National Agenda series – MIDTERM MATTERS – addressing importance of voter and civic engaent in midterm elections, as well as campaign strategy, news coverage, polling, and more.

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35:12

Episode 4 of the Midterm Matters podcast from UD's Center for Political Communication. (Full, unedited version)